Those Who Lead Us

Cannot tell you how happy I am that we are now getting headlines like this (dropdown video box):

Isikoff: Top Dems Want More Troops

Dec 6, 2006: NEWSWEEK's Michael Isikoff discusses the call by leading Democrat Silvestre Reyes for the deployment of more U.S. troops in Iraq.

Was this ralley 'round the McCain/Lieberman "more troops" pole intentional? Or was it just the result of the failure to ask a few appropriate questions before putting someone into a key leadership position?

Oh, man, this is ridiculous. You may recall a little while back that CQ's Jeff Stein asked a couple of GOP members of the Intelligence Committee about the difference between Shiites and Sunnis and they, like various FBI counterterrorism officials, didn't know anything about it. Now Silvestre Reyes turns out not to know that al-Qaeda is Sunni and Hezbollah is Shiite.

I wish Reyes all the best, and applaud him for the good sense he showed in voting against the Iraq War Resolution in the first place. But whether by intent or accident, the optics on this are just plain terrible.

Jane Hamsher

Jane is the founder of Firedoglake.com. Her work has also appeared on the Huffington Post, Alternet and The American Prospect. She’s the author of the best selling book Killer Instinct and has produced such films Natural Born Killers and Permanent Midnight. She lives in Washington DC.Subscribe in a reader